General Effects Of Crack Use Include Burning The

1. General Effects Of Crack Use Include

Advertisement Cocaine Effects: Cocaine Effects on the Body Effects of cocaine (read: ) can be seen in every organ and normal body function.

Initial release of extra neurotransmitters by stronger stimulants increases confidence, focus attention, and induce euphoria - people often use drugs to block out unwanted feelings - as use continues, the imbalance of dopamine, epinephrine, norepinephrine, and other neurotransmitters often promotes talkativeness, restlessness, irritability, and insomnia - excess or continued use can promote paranoia, aggression, and violence - high dose or prolonged use of meth/cocaine use can cause stimulant-induced paranoia and psychosis due to unbalanced levels of dopamine in the CNS. Isolated from the other chemicals in the coca leaf by Albert Niemann in 1859 - 200 times more powerful by weight than the coca leaf - the refined cocaine could be ingested, injected, or smoked - Karl Koller was a physician who discovered its anesthetic properties - Sigmund Freud promoted the medical and psychiatric uses of refined cocaine hydrochloride - drug was recommended to treat a variety of ailments, including depression, tuberculosis, gastric disorders, asthma, and morphine or alcohol addiction. Injecting cocaine intravenously results in an intense rush within 30 seconds and produces the highest blood cocaine level - injecting SQ or IM delayes the high by 3-5 minutes, and is not quite as intense - invention of hypodermic needle in 1853 - medicallly, the SQ injection or application of cocaine on moist tissues caused topical anesthesia, useful for minor surgery - when physicians first began using cocaine medicinally, many were unaware of the overdose potential, and a number of deaths occured.

General Effects Of Crack Use Include

When absorbed through the lungs, cocaine reaches the brain in 5-8 seconds - smokable cocaine reaches the brain so quickly that it causes more dramatic effects before it is swiftly metabolized. This rapid up-and-down roller coaster effect of smoking results in intense craving and an extreme binge pattern of use - 1914, the pharmaceutical company Parke-Davis introduced cigarettes that contained refined cocaine; but the high temp necessary to convert cocaine hydrochloride to smoke resulted in the destruction of many of its psychoactive properties - mid 1970's - street chemists converted cocaine hydrochloride to freebase cocaine. This process lowered the sublimation point to 98C and made the drug smokable - freebase cocaine could be smoked without destroying most of its psychoactive properties - 1980's - easier method of making freebase cocaine (dirty basing) was developed. This new form of smokable cocaine was called 'crack'.

Cocaine use associated with increased aggression and violence, especially in those already prone to violence - inhibitory functions are suppressed in the anterior cingulate gyrus and the temporal lobes - emotional triggers are overstimulated in the amygdala - the fight center is hyperactivated in the limbic system, so aggression and occasionally violence are often just a hair trigger away - cocaethylene (an active metabolite of cocaine and alcohol, induces greater agitation, euphoria, and violence than cocaine alone). When a pregnant woman uses, her baby is exposed to the drug within seconds - because of the stimulatory effects on the cardiovascular system, the chances of miscarriage, stroke, placental separation, and SIDS due to raised blood pressure and blood vessel malformations are increased - many abnormalities found in newborns of drug users have more to do with mothers lifestyle than the drug she used (i.e. Malnourished, smoke tobacco, have other diseases, etc) - rate of mild or greater mental delays double than that of non-exposed children - with proper treatment, toddlers emotional and physical development can catch up to non-cocaine-exposed children by their 8-10th birthdays. Tolerance to euphoric effects can develop after the first injection or smoking session - tolerance related to the brain's adaptation to excess dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine that is released by cocaine.

These gradually become depleted, and then number of receptor sites is also depleted - fewer receptors means less dopamine activation which diminishes the drugs rewarding effects - less norepinephrine and epinephrine means fewer energy chemicals, which in turn depresses the brain and the body and increases the amount of drug necessary to gain desired effects - tolerance does not occur evenly, paranoia increases while cardiovascular tolerance develops more slowly. Solid form of cocaine suitable for smoking - involves dissolving cocaine hydrochloride in an alkali solution and heating it to create pure crystals - cheap basing or dirty basing, involves dissolving cocaine in a solution of baking soda and water and heating it until crystals precipitate out. This method does not remove as many impurities or residues as freebasing, so contaminants like baking soda remain.

The chunks of cocaine made by this method are called 'crack' because of the crackling sound that occurs when smoked, or 'rock' because it resembles small rocks. The physical and mental effects of cocaine and amphetamines are very similar, but there are differences: - Price: a heaver user of cocaine spends $100 to $300 per day, whereas a heavy user of amphetamine spends about $50-$100 a day - Quality of the rush or high: smoking or injecting cocaine or meth IV produces an intense rush followed by a high or euphoria. The majority of users claim that the rush and the high from cocaine is greater than that from amphetamines, however amphetamines generate greater amounts of prolonged energy -Duration of action: cocaine's major effects last about 40 minutes, while amphetamines last 4-6 hours - Manufactur: cocaine is plant-derived and amphetamines are synthetic - addiction rate: methamphetamine users fall into addiction more quickly than cocaine users and enter treatment sooner.